Chương 7
“That’s not an answer.”
A small silence followed.
Natalie placed the folder on the table.
“You’re right.”
She sat down.
“I should have reached out sooner.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“Why didn’t you?”
She looked uncomfortable.
That alone told me the answer would not be simple.
“Because I was not your attorney.”
The words surprised me.
“What?”
“I was present at that dinner because Ethan invited me. I was not representing you. I made that clear.”
I looked at Adrian.
He remained quiet.
“I thought you were there to help us.”
Natalie nodded slowly.
“I know.”
The guilt in her voice made me uncomfortable.
“I asked Ethan if you had independent counsel before signing anything. He told me you were comfortable.”
I laughed once.
It was not amusement.
“He said a lot of things.”
Natalie opened the folder.
“I should have followed up.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
The honesty caught me off guard.
People usually rushed to defend themselves when they made mistakes.
Natalie did not.
“I assumed you had made your own choice.”
“And you were wrong.”
“Yes.”
The answer sat heavily in the room.
I looked down.
Another person had seen something.
Another person had wondered.
Another person had walked away.
The pattern hurt more than I expected.
“What is the house?” I asked.
Natalie opened a document.
“Before your marriage, you owned a small property in Connecticut.”
I frowned.
“I did not own anything.”
“You did.”
The memory came back slowly.
A house.
A tiny blue house my grandmother left me.
I had forgotten about it.
Not completely.
Just enough.
After she died, I could not handle going there.
Ethan helped me sell it.
At least, that was what I thought happened.
“That house was sold,” I said.
Natalie looked at Adrian.
Then back at me.
“The property was never sold.”
The room became quiet.
“What?”
“The paperwork filed for the sale was incomplete.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It does if someone wanted you to believe it happened.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
The word came out before I could stop it.
Not because I trusted Ethan.
Because accepting it meant admitting how much I had missed.
Natalie slid a document toward me.
“There are several irregularities.”
I scanned the page.
My name appeared.
A signature.
A date.
My signature.
Except it did not look like mine.
My breathing changed.
“That’s not my handwriting.”
Natalie nodded.
“I suspected that.”
“You suspected?”
“I could not accuse someone without evidence.”
“Who signed this?”
“We don’t know yet.”
The babies moved suddenly.
The physical reminder brought me back.
I placed my hand over my stomach.
Everything felt impossible.
My husband had left me.
I was in a hospital.
My children could arrive early.
And now I was being told something from years ago had been built on a lie.
Adrian noticed my face.
“That’s enough for today.”
I looked at him.
“You don’t decide that.”
A small pause.
Then he nodded.
“You’re right.”
Natalie closed the folder.
“We can continue when you’re ready.”
After they left, I stared at the ceiling.
I expected anger.
Instead, I felt something worse.
Embarrassment.
Not because I had been deceived.
Because I wondered how many times I had been given a chance to notice.
The small things.
The strange conversations.
The missing paperwork.
The way Ethan always handled details I was supposedly incapable of understanding.
A person could be trapped without a locked door.
Sometimes all it took was convincing them the door was unnecessary.
That evening, Elena brought dinner.
I pushed the tray around without eating.
“You’re thinking too loudly,” she said.
I looked up.
“Is that a medical thing?”
“No.”
She smiled.
“I work nights. I get good at recognizing people who are somewhere else.”
I looked at the food.
“I found out my husband may have lied to me for years.”
She adjusted the chair.
“That sounds difficult.”
“That’s your professional answer?”
“No.”
She opened a packet of crackers.
“My professional answer is that stress is bad for you right now.”
“And your personal answer?”
She shrugged.
“My personal answer is that some people are very good at making you feel crazy for noticing things.”
The sentence stayed with me.
“Have you experienced that?”
She smiled faintly.
“I’m a nurse. I’ve experienced almost everything.”
I laughed quietly.
The sound surprised both of us.
Later that night, when the room was dark, I picked up my phone.
Ethan had called six times.
The newest message was different.
Claire, we need to talk before you hear something that isn’t true.
I stared at it.
Before you hear something.
Not before we fix this.
Not before I explain.
Before you hear something.
I typed a response.
Then deleted it.
Typed another.
Deleted that too.
Finally, I sent one sentence.
I know about the property.
The reply came almost instantly.
My heart started beating faster.
Claire, do not let Adrian Vale manipulate you.
I looked at the message.
Not denial.
Not confusion.
A warning.
My fingers hovered over the screen.
Then another message appeared.
You have no idea what he is capable of.
I read it twice.
For the first time since seeing Ethan’s name appear on my phone, I felt something other than pain.
I felt uncertainty.
Because I had spent two days believing Ethan was the only person who had taken something from me.
Now I wondered if the man helping me had his own reasons for standing beside me.
Outside my room, footsteps passed.
A moment later, Adrian appeared in the doorway.
He looked at my face.
He knew something had changed.
“What happened?”
I held up the phone.
His eyes moved to the message.
The calm expression disappeared.
Not completely.
But enough.
“What?” I asked.
He looked back at me.
“Claire.”
His voice was quieter than before.
“You need to be careful.”
“With you?”
A pause.
Then he answered honestly.
“With everyone.”
May you like
The next morning, I woke up before the nurses came in.
For a few seconds, I stayed still and listened to the sounds outside my room.
